Seven Deadly Sins
by TheFreakZone
Summary: Trying to escape from an unrequited crush, Lovino finds himself living with personifications of the Seven Deadly Sins. These demons, however, end up becoming his greatest allies. Two-shot.
1. Part I

_AN: I saw a prompt on Tumblr and I had to write this, despite barely having any free time. It was supposed to be a one-shot, but it ended up being way too long, so I divided it in two. Hope you like it! :)  
Disclaimer: I don't own _Hetalia _(if I did... oh boy, if I did...)_

* * *

 **SEVEN DEADLY SINS**

Lust — France  
Wrath — England  
Pride — Prussia  
Envy — Sealand  
Gluttony — America  
Greed — Netherlands  
Sloth — Greece

~{x}~

 **PART I**

I still remember the day I moved into that house. It had taken me quite a while to find some place cheap that didn't look as if it would come crashing down on me at any given minute, but it was more than worth it. It was a nice house: not too big but neither small, close enough to a mall but far from big urban areas. It was a way too nice house to be that cheap; I probably should've questioned it. Back then, however, I couldn't give a crap about anything.

"Now, sign here, Mr. Vargas," the owner said, handing me a few papers, "and we'll be done with all the paperwork."

I did as he said without questioning it.

"You're the new tenant, then!" he exclaimed, cheerful. "Congratulations!"

"Whatever," I grunted as I dragged my suitcase inside. That was all I had for the moment; the following day, all my other stuff would be brought. My brother had offered to help; him… and Antonio.

I had had a crush on Antonio since… well, since forever. He met my brother at a music academy they both attended, and they became great friends practically instantly. It's easy to understand why. They're so alike, the two of them: always smiling and cheering up everyone around them; always laughing and making friends. In comparison, I was… barely a shadow of what they are. That's the reason why I decided to flee from Rome and come to a more secluded area: I was trying to leave Antonio behind. I never stood a chance anyway.

After I unpacked my suitcase in my new bedroom, I decided to go out for a walk to familiarize with the neighbourhood. I'd never been a very sociable person (read: I tend to hate people), but since I was starting anew, well, I considered I could do a change.

I didn't really make any new friends, though I did introduce myself to my new neighbours. There was no one I instantly liked, but neither anyone I instantly hated, which was a big step, knowing me. By the time I came back to the house (some time would have to pass until I could call it _home_ ), I was dead tired, and fell asleep as soon as my body hit the bed.

~{x}~

 _"Have you seen the guy? He's quite the cutie, isn't he?"_

 _"I've seen better. Namely: me."_

 _"Shut up, guys. I'm trying to sleep here."_

 _"He's not bad-looking, but I've seen more gorgeous pastries."_

 _"I wish I was as handsome as he is…"_

 _"Ugly, handsome; doesn't matter as long as he pays the rent."_

 _"You're such wankers, you're making me angry."_

~{x}~

The next morning, I woke up to the sound of a car honking right beneath my window. I groaned as I rolled out of bed, yawned, and moved the curtain to take a look. There was a big truck, with Feliciano behind the wheel. (Renting a truck and doing all the hard work myself was cheaper than hiring a company, and although lazy, I was also poor.) When my brother spotted me behind the window, he waved at me, smiling. He then turned to his side… and Antonio's head appeared on my field of vision.

… well, fuck.

He was smiling the brightest smile ever smiled as he, too, waved at me. I waved back, hoping they couldn't see my flushed face, and moved away from the window before I made a fool of myself.

I quickly got dressed and splashed my face with cold water before opening the front door to greet my brother and the most perfect man in Italy, Spain and probably the rest of Europe.

"Hi, Lovi!" Feli beamed as he launched himself over me, demanding a hug. "Is this really your new house? It looks great!"

"It does," I agreed, patting his back while at the same time trying to push him away. "Come on, the sooner we start, the sooner it'll be over," I urged.

We walked to the back of the truck, where Antonio was already unloading it.

"Hello, Lovino," he said with that incredibly sexy accent of his. (Have I mentioned he's Spanish? I don't know if it's because of that, but everything he ever says or does is unbelievingly alluring.) "That's a nice house you've gotten."

"I— uh, yeah, it is. Thanks," I stuttered. Sometimes I wondered how he could possibly not know how head-over-heels I was for him.

It took us the whole morning and a little of the afternoon to finish unloading the truck and getting everything into its respective room. It was very hot, and Antonio ended up taking off his shirt, which turned me into a blushing, quivering mess whenever I happened to walk by his side. If you ever saw the guy, you'd understand. He could pass as Michelangelo's _David_ 's model! His presence was so disturbing, I had to visit the bathroom quite a few times during the day (to splash my face, you dirty-minded bastards!) and I was so relieved when we were done.

"It took us less time than I had thought," Antonio commented as he put on his shirt again. Is that a crime? It should be a crime. For a moment, I considered getting into politics just to pass a law that forced Antonio to be shirtless when in front of me. "And the house is lovely! You should invite us over sometime, eh, Lovino?"

"Uh— yeah, well, maybe, we'll see," I answered, stumbling over the words. Seriously, how could he not know? "Thanks for… helping and stuff."

"No problem," he smiled. Then, he turned to Feliciano, and it felt as though the sun had been clouded. "We should probably get going."

"Yes! See you soon, Lovi!" my brother chirped, hugging me. "I'm going to miss you!"

It took forever for him to finally let go of me, and I rushed inside before his limpet instinct kicked in again. I went to my bedroom, from where I could see Feli and Antonio still chatting and laughing. They seemed to be arguing over who got to drive. Well, _argue_ might be too strong a word — they were playing _rock, scissors, paper_. The idiots.

Antonio won, and his smile grew, if possible, even wider. He climbed on the driver's seat, which meant I could still see him a little longer. He kept talking and laughing as he put on the seatbelt, checked the rear-view, put on the radio. Why was everything he did so captivating? I watched him until he drove the truck away, and even then I remained where I was, forehead pressed against the glass, gaze lost.

"Oh dear, you are so into that guy, aren't you?"

"You bet," I sighed.

There was a moment of silence.

Then I remembered I was supposed to be home alone.

Then I shrieked and ran to the other end of the room.

"Who the fuck are you and how did you get in here?!"

Standing right next to where I had been merely seconds ago there was a guy, not much older than me. He had long, wavy hair, blonde, and sky-blue eyes. Also, a stubble that would've looked stupid on anyone else, but that somehow made him look more handsome. (Yes, I thought he was handsome. To be fair, he was, though I do realize that's not what you're supposed to think about housebreakers.)

"Ah, yes, sorry, I forgot to introduce myself." He walked to my side, straightened and coughed before presenting his hand for a handshake: "I'm one of the seven demons that live here."

"D-D-Demons?" I stuttered.

"Demons. Or spirits, if you want. You may call me Lust."

"L-L-Lust?"

"Yes. Are you familiar with the Seven Deadly Sins? That would be us. I'm sorry, what's your name?"

I didn't answer. I couldn't. My mouth was dry, my mind was shocked. I couldn't speak, nor think.

"You idiot!" someone yelled, and then another man joined us. He was blond, too, but had short hair and green eyes, as well as two massive eyebrows. "I thought I told you not to scare him!"

The first one —Lust— shrugged.

"Come on, Wrath, he was going to be scared anyway! Right, New Homeowner?"

I managed a nod.

"See? So we'd better get over with this soon. I'm sorry, you still haven't told me your name."

"I— Lovino," I said when I finally got my voice back. "This is a joke, right? Are you friends of Feli?"

"A joke?" a third voice joined. " _A joke_?! How dare you, little one!" A man appeared right in front of me: he was pale and grey-haired (an albino, I realized) and had red eyes. He looked scary. "The others, maybe; but I won't tolerate having my grandiose person being called _a joke_!"

"Easy there, Pride," Lust scolded him. "Don't harass him; he's still getting used to us."

And then I fainted.

~{x}~

As I slowly regained consciousness, I heard worried voices around me. The first coherent thought that crossed my mind was that I was in a hospital; that I must have fainted from exhaustion and that those… _deadly sins_ had been nothing more than a product of my imagination.

However, when I opened my eyes, what I saw wasn't the clean white of hospital walls, but my new bedroom's ceiling. And, soon after, a childish face that hovered over mine.

"You alright?" the kid asked.

"Who are you?"

"Envy," he answered; and then insisted: "You okay?"

"I'm… not sure," I said, honestly. I moved slowly to a sitting position and looked around me. Besides the kid —Envy?— there were five more people. Three, I already knew: Lust and Wrath seemed to be bickering in a hushed tone about God knew what, while Pride checked himself out in my mirror. One of the other two rushed to my side:

"How you feelin', dude?" he exclaimed. "You should get something to eat! Food's the world's best medicine, I tell you!"

"Back off, Glut," the last one ordered, grabbing him —Gluttony, apparently— from his cowlick and pulling him away. "You always spend way too much on food, and let me remind you that you already blew your part in those glasses of yours."

That one had to be Greed. He was tall and well-built, and had a scar over his right eyebrow. He looked scary.

I was scared.

Fuck, now I knew why the house was so fucking cheap!

"Easy there, Lovino," Lust said, rushing to my side. Only then I realized I had started to hyperventilate. "It's okay; we're not gonna hurt you. Think of us as… your flatmates, yes? We're just your supernatural flatmates."

I swallowed as I tried to calm down my agitated breath. My brain was still trying to function (and failing drastically).

"My— my flatmates," I repeated, stuttering a little. "Just my flatmates."

"That's it!" Lust smiled. "We may be called _demons_ , but that doesn't mean we're evil or anything like that. We won't hurt you."

"As long as you pay the rent," Greed added from behind him.

Finally, I started to calm down. Everything was surreal and I wasn't fully convinced that they weren't going to hurt me, but… well, it's not like I had much to lose.

And that's how I started to live with seven demons. Way much more nonchalantly than normal people would.

I didn't meet the last one until a few days after having moved in, though. I had gone to the kitchen to make myself a mid-afternoon snack when I almost tripped on a cat.

"The fuck? Where did you come from?" I questioned, picking him up and looking at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Heeeey… Put him down… before he bites you… He only lets me… pick him up."

I turned, surprised to hear a voice I didn't know, and saw a guy sat at the table, idly eating some cereal. He had long, messy, brown hair and tired olive eyes. His movements were slow, as if it took him a lot of energy to do everything. He instantly reminded me of a sloth.

That's when I realized who he was.

"You're Sloth, huh?" I said, doing as he had asked and putting down the cat. "How come I'm only meeting you now?"

"I was… taking a nap," he answered in the same slow tone.

"For three days?"

He didn't answer. He had fallen asleep on his cereals.

"Don't take it personal," Lust said, appearing right by my side, making me flinch. (All of them were incredibly sneaky; it wasn't the first time, nor it would be the last, in which one of them almost gave me a heart-attack.) "It happens to him with everyone. Hey, Sloth! Wake up! Go to your bed for that!"

It took him a while to wake the other up, and then he practically had to drag him away. I could tell they all had a lot of experience in dealing with him.

~{x}~

A week passed, and I slowly got used to my surprise "flatmates". They were quite nice, much more than you'd expect from demons, and especially them being who they were. Yes, sometimes they'd get outbursts and behave excessively according to their sin (I once had to punch Lust in the face to get him off me), but they were nice to be around when they were normal.

The ones who spent more time with me were Pride and Lust. They were a bit annoying, but quite fun to be around. Wrath joined from time to time, and he always ended up arguing with Lust. I once called them "old-married couple" and Lust gave me a weird look. He didn't say anything, though, because Pride was laughing so hard he choked and he had to rush to save him.

As for the others, well, I talked to them when they were around, but most of the time they were each one busy with their things. Greed spent most of his time trying to convince Gluttony to, and I quote, _please stop being such a fat fuck and spending so much on food_. Gluttony never listened, which prompted for them to fight a lot; fights that were always stopped by Wrath, who would later scold them both for hours. Envy was always following someone around, either me or one of the other demons, and trying to imitate everything we did. And Sloth… Sloth slept through all of this.

One afternoon, I was calmly chatting with Pride when the bell rang. I frowned. I wasn't expecting anyone, and I doubted any of the demons were.

"Aren't you going to answer?" Pride asked after I failed to move.

"Ah, yes."

I rushed to the front door. Lust was already there, looking through the peephole. When he heard us, he moved aside and winked at me. I didn't give it much thought, since I had already gotten used to him doing stuff like that all the time… until I opened the door.

There, sharply dressed, as if he had come out of a dream, Mister Sunshine, the Man of the Thousand Smiles, the one and only.

"Hi, Lovino," Antonio beamed when he saw me.

"I— You— What— Uh— Hi?" I stuttered, not managing to link two words together.

"I had a job interview this morning, and it was close, and when I finished I thought I could come by. How's the new house?"

I opened and closed my mouth a few times, unable to speak. Me? He had decided to pay ME a visit?

"Well…" he went on when I failed to answer. "It's quite likely that I get the job, so I was thinking maybe you could show me around? I know you've been living for a short time here, but surely you know the place better than me. So? What do you say?"

I could've fainted right there and then. In fact, if I didn't it was only because, behind me, Pride and Lust held me firmly in place. My mind had a hard time understanding the situation: the man of my dreams, Mister Dreamy Green Eyes, was asking me to go for a walk with him. My heart began to beat frantically in my chest as I considered the offer.

Pros: spending some time with Antonio.

Cons: most likely making a fool of myself, failing to talk to him, making him lose every tiny piece of interest he may have in me.

"W-Well," I finally managed to say. My mouth was dry. "That sounds great, but I, uh, I'm kinda busy at the moment, so— I'd love to, really, but I— can't."

"Oh," he said, his smile weakening. "Well, that's a shame. I guess I'll go alone, then. See you!"

"B-Bye."

I fell against the door the moment I closed it. My breath and heartbeat were still wild, and I felt my cheeks burning. Slowly, I slid until I sat on the floor and buried my face between my knees.

"Uh— wasn't that the guy who helped you move in?" Lust asked after a few seconds of uncomfortable silence.

"Yes."

"The one you kept drooling over?"

"Yes."

"The one that had you gazing through the window as in a sad music video?"

"Yes."

"Did you just refuse going out with him?"

"… yes."

I could literally hear him facepalm.

"And why is that?"

"Be-Because I wouldn't know what to talk about and he'd soon be bored and would never want to see me again, and then I'd die alone and I don't want to die alone because that's so sad and—"

"Well, fuck," Pride interrupted me, brash. "We're going to have to do something about that self-esteem of yours."

~{x}~

I hadn't really agreed to it, but it's not like Pride gave a flying fuck about that. He dragged me to the living room, where he moved all the furniture away so that we had space. For what, I didn't know.

Lust sat on the couch, clearly expecting to enjoy what was to come. I went to his side and couched to get his attention.

"Yes, dear?"

"Hey, I was thinking—"

He gasped. I punched him.

"I said I was thinking," I went on, annoyed, "that you two were standing behind me all the time; how come Antonio didn't see you?"

"Because we didn't show ourselves to him," he answered, rubbing his cheek. "People will only see us if we want them to."

"O—kay, not creepy at all," I mumbled.

Pride called me then, and I sighed as I dragged myself to where he was. I heard quiet chuckles behind me, and I turned to see all other Sins had come and were piled up on the couch, watching me with amused eyes. Gluttony had come with six buckets of popcorn; however, he slapped every hand that threatened to take some. Apparently, they were all for him.

All my attention was back to Pride, though, the moment he went full military and started to yell:

"What's with that pose? Don't hunch!" He pushed my shoulders back, forcing me to straighten my back. "Now, chin up! Arms on the sides; don't hide behind them!" As he talked, he kept moving me as if I were a doll, making me adopt the stance he wanted. "Okay, that's _much_ better," he smirked, satisfied. "How do you feel?"

"Stupid."

"That won't do," he sighed. "Come on, Lovino Vargas, you can't be confident if you don't try! And, I tell you, the way you stand is _very_ important. Have you ever seen me hunching?"

"No."

"Ever seen me downcast?"

"No."

"Ever seen me in a defensive pose?"

"No."

"Hah! And have you ever seen me defeated, crying like a baby and with my pride shattered?"

"I have!" Greed called from the spontaneous audience.

Pride turned to glare at him. "You, shut up!" he yelled, menacing, before turning to me. "Well, have you?"

"Uh— no."

"Exactly!" he exclaimed, proud of himself. "So, I don't want to see you looking like a zombie ever again. Are we clear?"

"Yes, sir," I rolled my eyes.

"Sir?" he repeated, indignant. " _Sir_?! No, no, no, Lovino, there's no _sir_. _You_ are the one in charge."

"Huh?"

"You heard me. Who's number one?"

"According to the TIME Magazine, last year it was Trump, but—"

"No!" he interrupted. "The answer is _you_ ," he said, emphasising the last word. "Now, let's try again: who's number one?"

"You?"

"NO!"

Behind me, Gluttony and Lust burst out laughing outrageously loud, covering the quieter laughs of the others. I blushed, finally understanding what Pride meant.

"Okay, let's try one more time," he said, rubbing his face as if trying to gather some more patience. "Who's number one?"

"I am?"

"Yes! But don't question it: who's number one?"

"I am."

"Who's number one?"

"I am."

"Who's number one?!"

"I am!"

"Who's number one?!"

"I am!"

"WHO'S NUMBER ONE?!"

"I AM!"

"WHO'S NUMBER ONE?‼"

"I AM‼"

I'm not sure how many times he asked, as I don't know why we kept talking louder and louder until we were screaming at the top of our lungs. The surprising thing was that, unbelievingly, I did feel better.

I didn't tell Pride, though. He'd be insufferable if I did.

~{x}~

For some reason, Lust decided that I needed his help as well. Two days after my let's-scream-who's-number-one session with Pride, he shook me awake one morning, smiling playfully; dragged me out of bed, forced me to eat breakfast, and pushed me in my car.

"Where are we going?" I yawned as he drove.

"Shopping," he answered. "I took the liberty of looking through your wardrobe and I'm sorry, but you need new clothes. You don't have any sense of style! And you call yourself Italian…"

I considered arguing, because hey, I was (and am, thank you very much) a purely bred Italian, and I did (and still do, _thank you very much_ ) have a very good fashion sense. However, I was very sleepy to get into an argument, so I let it pass. I'd plan a revenge later.

He parked in the mall and pulled me out of the car, dragging me after him.

"We need to find the style that really suits you; the one that'll make you the target of everyone's gazes."

"I'm not sure I want that."

"You will once Pride's done with you," he chuckled.

"Wait— there's more of that?!"

Lust didn't answer. Actually, he barely spoke as he dragged me from one store to another, forcing me to try on thousands of shirts, trousers and suits. It was as if he had suddenly stopped being the personification of a sin to become a stylist. He would stare at me, his chin resting on his hand as he let out small pondering noises; then he would mutter something like "not enough" or "there's something missing", and would make me change dozens of times until he was happy with the result. I learnt to recognize when that happened: his eyes would light up and the corners of his mouth would curl up in a satisfied smile. The rest of the time, he looked completely stoic, like a professional.

It was almost four in the afternoon when we finally went back home. He had selected a lot of new clothes for me, but due to my limited budget he had to get rid of some. That's when I discovered just how melodramatic he could be: he kept sighing and shedding a tear whenever he returned an item to the shop's shelves.

"Hey, there!" Envy greeted us when we got home. "How was the shopping?"

"Wonderful!" Lust said.

"Terrible," I grunted at the same time.

"I sense someone's in a bad mood," Wrath said, appearing suddenly by my side. "What happened? Oh, wait, I know." He made a pause. Then he pointed at Lust. "You've spent the whole morning with him, haven't you?"

"Oi!" Lust protested, offended. "Do you have a problem with me, Lord Eyebrows?"

"Oh no," Wrath smiled dangerously, "I have _many_ problems with you."

And then they were, once again, bickering in one of their many quarrels. I rolled my eyes (I had started to do that quite a lot) and started to make my way to the bedroom. However, Gluttony suddenly appeared in front of me, a greasy hamburger in hand.

"Hold on there! I made lunch today— you're not eating?"

My gaze flickered to the abomination in his hand.

"Oh, don't worry," he smiled. "This is my dessert."

 _Dessert?!_ I thought, scandalized. Thank God he wasn't human, because had he been, he would've died many years ago.

"For you lot, I made lasagne," he finished, still smiling.

"Lasagne?" I repeated slowly. That sounded good. I could use some lasagne.

"I knew you'd like it!" Gluttony exclaimed, happy, as he took me by the hand and dragged me to the kitchen. "I know a whole morning with Lust can be exhausting— don't tell him I said that," he ranted as he forced me to sit down and brought me a plate full of food.

I started to devour it (I hadn't eaten anything since breakfast!) and oh my, it was absolutely de-li-cious. Gluttony sat with me and started to tell me how he had followed a recipe he had found in one of my cook books and how happy he was with the result.

"It's very nice," I praised him. "Congratulations."

"Well, as I said, you deserved something like this after having been the whole morning with Lust."

Sloth came in, yawning and dragging his feet, and served himself some lasagne.

"You've spent… the whole morning… with Lust?" he asked in the same monotone way as usual (though I could've sworn I noticed some admiration in it). "And you haven't… killed him? After lunch… go take a nap… You've earned it."

I raised an eyebrow.

"You know, when I moved here, I didn't expect to find seven new mothers," I said, mocking.

Although, truth be told, it felt nice to have seven, uh, "people" watching over me and helping me improve.

I did take a nap.

~{x}~

A month passed until Pride and Lust finally deemed my… _training_ was complete. During that time, everyone put some effort in helping me.

Pride would randomly appear beside me and yell "Who's number one?"; if I failed to answer, he gave me a half-an-hour-long talk about how "incredibly awesome" I was. One day in which I was particularly stressed (work issues), he forced me to stand in the living room, him in front of me, and we screamed at each other until I felt relieved.

Lust wouldn't stop reminding me to take care of my looks. He taught me how to stand, how to walk, how to talk; he made sure I wouldn't go unnoticed anymore. He also put a lot of effort in teaching me how to flirt. I learnt when I had to be direct, when I had to be coy, when I should be the one taking the lead and when I should let myself be seduced. It was nice, save for those times when he got a bit carried away and I had to fight to get him off me (once it was Wrath who had to tackle him and hold him against the floor until he cooled down).

It was precisely Wrath who, surprisingly, taught me how to control my nerves. I used to be a tad violent, jumping at the smallest provocation and snarling at anyone who pissed me off in the slightest. Wrath taught me how to channel all that rage. "Don't get physical," he said. "Use words. There are few things more satisfactory than watching your enemy unable to retort to your burn."

Gluttony didn't really teach me anything, but he looked after me in his own way. He sensed when I was needy, and every time I was hungry, he showed up with a snack or a delicious meal. I learnt that he loved being the saviour, so I started to play damsel in distress whenever he appeared with the food. "Oh my, just when I was daydreaming about spaghetti, you show up with some!" His face brightened up and he always played along, laughing loudly (a bit obnoxiously) as he claimed to be my hero.

After much insistence from his part, I finally let Greed take care of the finances and well, I must admit he helped me save a lot. He didn't let me indulge in many things; wouldn't let me buy anything on a whim. He'd always ask me if I really needed that, what were my reasons to want it, if I'd be happier if I had it. It was a bit (very) annoying at first, but in the end I had to admit that, thanks to him, my economy wasn't as bad as it had been before I moved.

Envy… Well, he did this to everyone, but the truth is that he did help me be more confident. Whenever he saw me doing something, he'd watch in awe and say that it was so cool, that he wished he was as skilled and talented as me. I knew he only said those things because it was his nature, but hey, I did feel pumped up afterwards.

And Sloth… was Sloth. I'd only see him every few days, but when I did, he always asked how I was sleeping, if I was taking enough rest, if I wasn't pushing myself too hard at work. If he wasn't satisfied with my answers, he made an effort and stayed awake more often to make sure I slept enough.

As I said before, all of this took over a month. I didn't understand why they all suddenly considered that they were done, and when I asked them, they just shrugged and said: "You've changed enough".

It took me time to realize they were trying to make me a better person, and if they had pushed it too far, they would've ended up turning me into a massive asshole.

~{x}~

"Well, well, well…" Lust said, sitting by my side. It was the first weekend after they had stopped with their so-called training, so it surprised me to see him wearing that smirk of his. It usually meant he had something up his sleeve, and I thought we were done with his tricks! "Shall we see if our efforts have paid off?"

"What do you mean?" I grunted as I typed on my laptop. I didn't work on weekends, but my boss had practically begged me to send some emails, and as much as I wished to tell him to go fuck himself, I couldn't (Greed had helped a lot, but I still needed a job to, you know, not starve to death).

"We're going out, of course," he answered. "When you're finished with that, go get dressed. Pride and I are taking you partying."

I stopped typing to send him an unbelieving look.

"Partying?" I repeated. "What for?"

"As I said, to see what we have achieved during all this time." He spoke calmly, but I could see in his eyes how excited he was. "Aren't you curious? Don't you want to see how much you've changed?"

I paused for a moment, considering his words. Part of me was _very_ curious, yes. I was dying to go out there and show the world the new me. Another part of me, smaller yet strong, was terrified of doing so and discovering that I was still a nobody. If Pride found out about that, he'd be very pissed off, but what can I say? Old habits are difficult to change.

In the end, however, I couldn't help but agree to Lust's proposition.

"Okay," I sighed. "Let's go out."

Of course, I didn't expect for him and Pride to actually come with me.

When I got ready to leave, I was shocked to see them waiting for me at the doorstep. They were both nicely dressed ( _Pride had even combed his hair—?!_ ) and chatted and chuckled, clearly excited.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" I yelled the moment I saw them.

"We're going with you!" Pride said, his chest puffing up. "We want to see first-hand the result of our awesome work."

Needless to say, I protested.

Needless to say, they didn't care and came anyway.

"I can't believe we're doing this," I sighed as they dragged me inside the first club we found.

It had loud music, and smoke machines, and colourful lights; there were many people dancing, some on the bar ordering drinks, and a few passed out on the couches. It wasn't my favourite place in the world, but it's not like we were going to find anything better, so I resigned myself to a couple of hours of that.

"Let's find yourself a cute partner, yes?" Lust said in my ear as I made my way to the bar.

"And remember: you're number one!" Pride said in the other.

I rolled my eyes and tried with all my might to ignore them. When I finally reached the bar and found a free stool, I ordered the first drink I could think of. _Okay, Lovino, relax_ , I told myself. _You're going to show those two fuckers what you can do all by yourself_. I felt someone patting my shoulder. Thinking it must be either Pride or Lust, I turned to yell at them.

"Lovino? It really is you! What a nice surprise!"

… well, fuck.

Before me was Mister Perfection, Lord Gorgeous, Sunshine Man, staring at me with those incredibly green eyes of his, a bright grin plastered on his face.

"I didn't expect to meet you here," he went on, taking a sit by my side. "When I saw you come in, I wasn't sure it was you. By the way, are those two—" he pointed at my back, "friends of yours?"

I tried to say something (deny it or confirm it, I didn't know), but my two companions were faster than me.

"Hello, I'm Francis," Lust introduced himself, offering Antonio a handshake.

"And I'm His Awesomeness, though you may call me Gilbert," Pride said, doing the same.

Francs? Gilbert? What kind of names were those? I couldn't help but wonder if they had improvised them on the spot or had thought them beforehand.

Antonio, unlike me, seemed to like their introduction, for he laughed and shook their hands.

"I'm Antonio. Pleased to meet you!"

"Of course you are," Pride winked, smug.

We soon were engaged in a conversation. Rather, the three of them talked and I listened. I could see Pride and Lust were making efforts to get me to talk, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. Truth be told, I was a little mad at how wonderfully Antonio had connected with the two of them: they were laughing and drinking together as if they had known each other since forever! Besides, I was busy trying to remember all of Lust's flirting advice, and waiting for the opportune moment to start dropping hints. It never seemed to come.

It never came.

When Lust was telling Antonio an anecdote about "his boyfriend Arthur" (I realized that he had described Wrath when talking about him; I wasn't sure he'd like to know that), a fifth person joined us. And then I wished I hadn't left home.

"Toni!" a girl called as she walked towards us. She was very pretty: shoulder-length blond hair; big, green eyes; a candid smile. "So you were here! I couldn't find you anywhere!" she laughed.

Antonio's face brightened up when he saw her.

"Hi, Emma," he beamed, reaching out for her.

She took his hand. He pulled. She giggled.

They kissed.

~{x}~

"Aren't you going to introduce me to your friends?" she asked, playful.

"Ah, yes, sorry. Guys," he smiled, "this is my girlfriend, Emma. Emma, these are Francis, Gilbert and Lovino. Do you remember Feli? My friend from the music academy? That's his brother."

"Of course I remember Feli," Emma smiled. "You didn't mention he had a brother! Pleased to meet you," she added.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah, the pleasure's mine," I answered, faking a smile. I had barely listened to them: I was too busy staring at Emma's hands on Antonio's shoulder, and at Antonio's arm around Emma's waist, and thinking about how much I wanted to die.

"So— how did you two meet?" Lust asked, probably trying to get their attention off me.

As Antonio told him, I felt a knot in my throat growing with each word.

"… gotten out of a job interview…"

I felt like crying.

"… went to take a look around the area…"

Why was that happening?

"… met in the park— it was love at first sight!"

After a while, Antonio suggested going to dance a bit. Lust and Pride agreed; I refused, excusing myself saying that my knee hurt. The only one who bothered to give me a somewhat worried glance as they left was Lust. I ignored him.

I ordered another drink ("The strongest you have, please") and I started to (try to) drink my sadness away. My mind didn't cooperate, though, and kept showing me the images I was trying to delete: Emma and Antonio hugging, Emma and Antonio laughing together, Emma and Antonio kissing.

Emma and Antonio meeting on the day I had refused to accompany him.

I couldn't stop wondering if, had I gone with Antonio that day, I could have prevented it. If I had accepted his offer, then maybe he wouldn't have met Emma. Maybe— Maybe he would've fallen for me instead of her. I realized it was too late to regret my choices, but I couldn't help going through all those "what if".

I was startled out of my thoughts when an incredibly happy Antonio appeared by my side, asking for a glass of water, and then turning to look at me with his usual cheerful expression.

"Lovino, your friends are awesome!" he laughed.

"Yeah, I guess," I shrugged.

"Huh? Are you alright?" he asked. He sounded worried.

"I— No, I'm not feeling well," I answered. "I think I'm going to head home. Can you tell Lu— Francis and Gilbert?"

"Sure." He drank his water all at once and smiled at me one last time. "Hope you get better!" he called as he got lost in the crowd.

I cried all the way back home.

~{x}~

The next day, after Lust and Pride got over the hangover (I didn't want to imagine how much they had had to drink to get themselves, proper demons, so incredibly pissed), they told the others what had happened. Gluttony was quick to buy two ice cream jars (one for me; another for himself) to "help me kill the pain with an overdose of sugar", and Envy forced me to sit on the couch and hugged me for at least ten minutes. I didn't talk to Pride and Lust.

They noticed, of course, and tried to start conversations. I, however, wouldn't forgive them for having abandoned me on the very moment when my life had come crashing down. I snapped, once, and yelled at them, screaming in frustration about how betrayed I felt. They stood there, downcast, not saying a word. When I was done, I was on the verge of tears, but I couldn't care less.

Pride muttered an apology and left.

Lust stayed.

"Lovino…" he hawked after a while. "I'm terribly sorry we left you alone back then. I guess we didn't realize how much you needed us."

I snorted as I dropped myself on the couch, facing the opposite way. I was tempted to tell him where he could shove his apologies, but I didn't want to talk to him. I didn't want to talk to anybody.

However, he did, apparently, want to talk to me.

"I can still help, you know," he said, slowly. That caught my attention. When he saw that I turned to look at him, he went on: "I can make them break up." He took a deep breath. "I can have Emma lust after another guy; she cheats, he finds out, they break up."

I stared at him, blinking slowly. Did he really mean that? I shook my head.

"Don't," I said quietly. "Don't do that."

"Why not? I'm perfectly capable of—"

"That would break his heart," I stated. "Don't do it."

"He'd be free," he insisted. "You would have a chance to—"

"I said _don't_ , alright?" I snapped. "I don't want to just _sleep with him_ ," I growled. "That's lust, and what I feel for him is not lust. It's love. Not that you understand love," I added after a moment.

"Does anyone?" he asked, a soft smile on his face. I didn't know what to answer. "Okay, then," he sighed. "Since you so fervently forbid it, I won't cause their breakup. I just have a question for you." He leant forwards, a curious glint in his eyes: "How are you so sure that what you feel for Antonio is love?"

That was a funny question. Truth is, I, too, had thought that it was nothing more than a crush, just plain lust after a man who, let's be fair, was very easy to lust after. I hadn't realized that I had indeed fallen for him until Lust's proposition.

"Because I'd rather have him being happy with someone else than making him suffer with the vague hope of getting him."

That was the end of the conversation.

After that, they all started to take care of me again. I won't lie: it felt nice to have people looking after me, even if they did it out of pity. Since I was mad at Lust and Pride, I started to seek the others' company. Gluttony and Envy gladly filled the void (and Sloth, too, when he wasn't comatose).

Gluttony started to cook once again, only that this time he required my help. I knew he did it to keep me busy and prevent me from overthinking, but I did it nonetheless because it worked and fuck, I needed it.

Cooking soon became my main pastime. I practically spent more time in the kitchen than in my bedroom, cooking meals and baking cakes. The latter was great: as we worked, Envy would stare at us from the door, eyes wide and mouth drooling; then, the three of us would sit together on the couch and eat cake as we watched whichever stupid movie happened to be on TV. Sometimes, the smell would lure Sloth out of his dreams and he'd drag himself to the couch, sit with us, eat some, and then fall asleep next to us. His cat (I found out he was called Ferdinand) would join as well, and after bribing him with cake, I finally managed to pet him.

"I wish I were a cat," I sighed one of those days. Ferdinand was lying on my lap, purring as I stroked him.

"Me too," Envy agreed.

"Why, though?" Gluttony asked as he scraped the rests of cake off his plate.

"Cats don't have worries. People love them, and they get away with being assholes because they're cute."

Gluttony let out a pondering 'hmm'.

"If I could choose," he said after a moment, "I'd be a dog."

"Dogs are way too sensitive," I argued. "They see their master petting another dog, they get jealous. And I'm already jealous enough, thanks," I added, making a face when I realized where the conversation had led me to.

"You're not jealous," Envy said then, matter-of-factly. "You're envious."

I blinked. "What's the difference?" I asked, frowning.

"Jealousy is fearing someone will take from you something you love," he explained. "Envy is wanting something that someone else has."

"Huh. Whatever. Jealous or envious, I don't care; what matters is that I want to be a cat."

"But if you were a cat, you wouldn't get to enjoy all this delicious food we cook," Gluttony reasoned.

"We have… a lot to learn… from cats…" Sloth yawned (when had he woken up?). "Like… taking life… with ease…" He half-opened his eyes to gaze at me. "But being… a house cat… is boring…"

"How do you know?"

"Ferdinand told me…"

That's how I found out they could talk to animals. Not that I ever used that bit of information, but it was cool to know.

~{x}~

One day, after Gluttony pointed out that I hadn't left home in one too many days (working from home enabled me to do that), I decided to go out for a walk. There was a park close to home; I thought it'd be nice to stroll around. What's the worst that could happen?

…

Perhaps meeting a certain couple I wanted to avoid. They'd met there, hadn't they? And they looked like the typical couple who would want to revisit that place weekly.

With those thoughts in mind, I considered not going out, but then Wrath showed up by my side and said: "I'm going with you". I couldn't say no to him because… Fuck, because he still scared me, okay? He and Greed were the ones who had kept their distance, I hadn't gotten to know them as I knew the others, and they were _scary_.

So I muttered a quiet 'okay', and off we went.

He didn't say anything for the first fifteen minutes or so, which started to make me anxious. Why had he come? Did he want to leave the house and was using me as an excuse? Or he just wanted to make sure I wasn't going to jump off a bridge?

"Lovino."

He startled me. Getting anxious over him not talking didn't mean I actually _wanted_ him to.

"W-What?"

"I'd like to ask you something. It's about that… sensitive topic."

"Oh." I considered it for a minute. "Go ahead."

"Antonio's new girlfriend— do you hate her?"

I frowned. Though, thinking about it, it was a good question. Did I hate Emma? I pondered about it for a while.

"No," I finally answered. "No, I don't think so. I am terribly jealous— envious," I corrected myself, "but I don't _hate_ her. As long as she makes him happy…"

He nodded.

"Why did you ask?"

"I hadn't seen you showing any anger, and I thought you _were_ angry. Lust said you weren't, but I wanted to make sure for myself."

"Why?"

He glanced sideways at me.

"You shouldn't let anger bottle-up inside you. It slowly eats you. If that were happening to you, I would've made sure to make you let it all out."

Well, wasn't that thoughtful. And here I thought he barely cared about me. I quietly thanked him for his worry, and he accepted it with a nod. His questions, however, didn't stop there.

"What about Pride and Lust?"

"… I am mad at them," I admitted.

Then I wished I hadn't, since he basically forced me to vent. He made me tell him exactly what had happened that night; what reasons I had to be mad at them; why I still was. However, by the time we were done, I did feel a bit better.

"I can't believe I'm going to defend those two," Wrath sighed, "but… they have their reasons for what they did."

I looked at him, surprised. What reason could Pride and Lust have to leave me alone at that awful moment? I asked him, but he refused to answer.

"That story is theirs to tell," he said, stern, making me understand that he wasn't going to say anything else about that subject.

I didn't pester him with questions. Not because I wanted to be considerate, but because I didn't want to anger him. He was the freaking personification of Wrath — I didn't want him losing his shit with me by his side. So we both walked in silence until he suddenly stopped, abruptly; and when I turned to look at him, I was surprised to see a reluctant look on his face.

"What is it?" I asked, a bit worried. Okay, _very_ worried. He was a demon, for fuck's sake! What could possibly make him look like that?

"Can we go back?" he requested, slowly. "We have wandered far enough from home."

He sent me an almost pleading stare, and I was quick to agree. Thankfully, he explained himself as we started to make our way back:

"We— We are kind of… _bounded_ to that house. The farther we are from it, the weaker our powers get." He made a pause to sigh deeply. "Pride once tried to go a bit too far and almost died."

"He almost _what_?!"

"He— collapsed, and his nose started to bleed. I still don't know how he managed to drag himself to a place where we could pick him up. But he survived, obviously, so it wasn't too terrible." He stopped for a moment, his face telling me he was considering whether Pride surviving had been the best outcome of the situation. "At first we thought that maybe it had been because he was walking towards the Vatican, so Lust tried going the opposite way. Same result," he sighed, muttering under his breath something like 'stupid pricks'.

"So you can't move around? That sucks."

"Indeed. At least that one pub you went to with Pride and Lust is within our range," he mumbled. It was a poor consolation, really.

"Well, when you go, make sure your stupid friends don't drink." I rolled my eyes. "They really can't handle their alcohol."

He glanced at me.

"That was just because they were far from the house," he replied. "I can assure you they're _very_ good at handling their alcohol; particularly Pride. He's German, after all."

I stopped walking, shocked.

"He's what?" I stuttered. Had he said Pride was _German_? As in, from Germany? I was so confused. Did Hell have countries? Was Hell a cheap copy of Earth with cheap continents and nations? … was I in Hell? (That would explain a lot…)

Wrath narrowed his eyes. He clearly was mentally smacking himself for having said too much. He breathed deeply, and then shook his head.

"Nothing. Come on, let's go back."

He refused to say anything else all the way back.

I had questions. A lot. But Wrath warned the others, and the minute I tried to talk to them about anything remotely related to nationalities and their weird house-boundary, they immediately changed the subject. Greed and Wrath simply walked away, Gluttony started to stuff his face with the first thing he found in the fridge ("Sowy, man, I cwan't ffpeak!"), Envy somehow summoned Wrath to get him out of there, Pride covered his ears and started to chant "Na na naaaaa I can't hear youuuuu!", and Sloth… fell asleep right on the spot.

And then there was Lust. He did avoid my questions, like everyone else, but he always gave me a sad look. It was as if he _wanted_ to tell me, but _couldn't_. Why that was, I didn't understand, and it only made me come up with more and more questions.

~{x}~

Trying to get information from a bunch of demons was, and believe me when I say this, exhausting. And Our Lord and Saviour Google didn't help (yes, I never thought that sentence would ever be uttered either, but here we are), so I had no means to find out anything if they didn't tell me themselves. Expect for, maybe, driving all the way to the Vatican and explaining to the Pope that I had been living with the Seven Deadly Sins and could he get me some Holy Water to threaten them with if they kept refusing to answer my questions?

… yeah, probably not.

As I was saying, it was rather exhausting, and also things were starting to get a bit tense between us, so one afternoon I thought I should go out for a walk to cool myself.

Best.

Decision.

Ever.

As I was strolling through the park with no destination in mind, I saw him: Radiant Man, Mister Bright Smile, Happiness Personified himself. Only, he didn't look radiant, nor was he smiling brightly, and looked more depressed than happy.

Before I knew it, I was walking straight to the bench were he was sat, absently crumbling some biscuits and throwing them for the pigeons to eat.

"H-Hey, Antonio," I greeted when I reached him.

He looked up at me, startled out of his thoughts, and smiled a weak and not Antonio-like smile.

"Hey," he answered, low and monotone.

"What's with the long face?" I asked, hoping I wasn't being too direct.

He sighed heavily and smashed one of the crackers.

"Emma and I broke up," he mumbled, angrily throwing the crumbles to the ground.

Oh.

On the one hand, Antonio was free again!

On the other hand, it sucked seeing him feeling so low.

"That's bad," I said, sitting by his side. Then I had a suspicion. "She— she didn't cheat or anything, right?" I asked, trying to sound nonchalant while deep inside swearing I'd murder Lust with my own hands if he had dared to do anything.

"God, no," Antonio snorted. "We had a fight, that's all. A big one," he added after a moment, his gaze lost somewhere in front of us. "Huge."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. I'm not even sad."

I raised an eyebrow as I looked at him. _Not sad_ my ass! He was downcast, hunching — he was _feeding pigeons_!

"You don't look _not sad_ ," I pointed out.

"I— I _am_ … but I'm _not_ … Fuck, it's complicated."

"You bet," I muttered.

"It's like…" he tried to explain himself again. "It's like I'm not sad over having broken up with Emma, and _that_ makes me sad, because it means I didn't really love her; because if I _did_ love her like I thought I did, then I _would_ be sad." He blinked a few times before turning to look at me, a resigned expression on his face. "I'm not making any sense, am I?"

"Not at all," I replied, shrugging. "Do you know what I think?"

"Please do tell."

"I think you're overthinking," I stated. "You're eating your head over something that's over, that shouldn't bother you anymore."

"… I guess," he admitted quietly.

"I think…" I took a deep breath. _Be brave, Lovino. Be brave_. Fuck, I could almost hear Pride yelling "Who's number one?" in my ear. "I think you need to distract yourself." Impulsively, I stood up and offered him my hand. "Let's— Let's go for a walk. If you want."

He looked at my hand, then at my face, then at my hand again, and only hesitated for a moment before taking it.

* * *

 ** _To be continued..._**


	2. Part II

**PART II**

It was awkward at first. He walked by my side in silence, and I cursed myself for having invited him. Now what? It was safe to say that my self-esteem had (unbelievably) improved a lot thanks to Pride's training, so I could carry a conversation — heck, I had barely stuttered before! I just… didn't know how to start.

Thankfully, he did that himself.

"Lovino," he called. When I looked at him, he coughed, a bit uncomfortable. "Why are you doing this?"

"D-Doing what?" I asked, confused.

"Well… helping me through this. I— I thought you hated me," he finished in a quiet whisper.

… _what?!_

"Hate you?" I almost yelled, a bit offended. "Why would you think that?"

"I— Well, it's just that—" He blushed a little as he spoke, and fuck, he was _adorable_. "I don't know," he sighed. "I guess it's that you always avoided me when we were hanging out with Feli, and didn't talked to me at all… Stuff like that."

I couldn't believe my ears. The idiot had actually managed to confuse a blatantly obvious crush with _hatred_? I felt myself blush as well as I looked down and kicked a pebble.

"I don't hate you, you fucking moron," I admitted quietly. _Quite the opposite_ , I thought. I didn't say it out loud, of course. I still wasn't ready to admit _that_.

From then, we started to chat about this and that, about everything and nothing in particular. He actually laughed a few times and fuck, it was the most beautiful sound in the whole damn world. Everything was going wonderfully well… until a third person joined us.

"Carriedo!" someone called behind us, and I saw how Antonio's face fell, losing all the cheerfulness he had been recovering. "Hey, Carriedo!" the man insisted, rushing to us.

('Carriedo', by the way, was Antonio's second surname. Antonio Fernández Carriedo. Yes, second surname, because Spain is weird like that.)

I wondered who this man was. He clearly knew Antonio… and Antonio clearly didn't like him, judging by his expression. Despite that, I decided not to be prejudiced. Perhaps this man wasn't as bad as Antonio seemed to think—

"I heard your girl dumped you," he said, a mocking smirk plastered on his face.

Scratch that. The seven _demons_ I was living with were nicer than this guy.

"Fuck off," Antonio grunted.

The man gasped. "Antonio!" he said, feigning horror. "Language! You're supposed to be an example for the kids!"

"We're not working right now, Sadik," the Spaniard replied, glaring at him.

So a co-worker, huh? I had found out through Feliciano that the job Antonio had gotten in my area was at a nursery. I could totally picture him surrounded by kids and laughing like an idiot at all their antics. That guy, Sadik… not at all.

"Come on now, don't look at me like that…" the asshole snickered, circling Antonio's shoulder with an arm and pulling him close. "I'm not _that_ bad!"

"Yes you _are_ ," Antonio growled, pulling himself free. "Look, I really don't have the nerve right now to hear all your bullshit, so unless you want me to break your face—" He made a very dramatic pause, his glare sharpening. "—I suggest you get the fuck out of my sight."

… fuck, he could be scary! And here I thought he was all smiles and sunshine! I had never seen that side of him, and I found myself at a loss of words when facing it. (Also, maybe a teeny, tiny bit turned on.)

Thankfully, Antonio didn't have to break anyone's face: Sadik seemed to sense that he wasn't going to let him mock him anymore, and simply shrugged and walked away. Antonio, however, remained pissed off a little longer, cursing under his breath in quick Spanish.

"I'm sorry about that," I finally sighed, rubbing his tired eyes. "He works with me at the nursery, and he's a complete asshole."

"Yeah, I noticed," I agreed. "How's the nursery, by the way?" I asked then, hoping that the change of subject would cheer him up again.

Surprisingly, it did.

He started to ramble on and on about the kids he looked after, merrily sharing anecdotes of all the funny things they did and said. I was relieved when he started to laugh again, a bright smile on his face.

"You really like kids, don't you?" I asked when he ran out of stories.

"Yes, I do," he answered without an ounce of embarrassment. "I really want to have some of my own someday." When I snorted, he gazed at me, amused. "You don't?"

"First I'd need someone to have the kids with, don't you think?" I replied, making a face at the poor intensity of my love-life.

"Not really," he shrugged. "There's adoption, and single-parenting is very common nowadays."

"Ah, I— I wouldn't be able to do it on my own," I said, blushing. "I'd kill the kid in just two days."

"That's what you think now," he winked at me, "but one day it'll just grown in you."

I considered it for a moment. Maybe he was right… He was, after all, a couple of years older than me. Still, I couldn't see myself as a parent. Antonio? God, Antonio would be SuperDad! Me—? Not so much.

I was quick to change topic again.

Eventually, as we chatted and walked, we ended up reaching the more urban area. It wasn't dinner time yet, but after having been walking for a long while, we both were hungry and, against my will, we ate something in one of those terrible fast-food chain restaurants.

"I can't believe I'm eating this," I kept grunting as I chewed my burger. "I'm Italian — I _know_ what good food is, unlike those stupid Americans. And you— you're Spanish; you should know, too!"

He only chuckled and kept eating.

When we were done and walked outside, I realized he was, once again, a bit downcast. He didn't look as incredibly depressed as when I had found him earlier, but he didn't look like his usual, cheerful self either. I knew I had to keep him distracted.

I was wondering what to say or do when I spotted a dance club on the other side of the road. I smiled and poked at Antonio.

"Wanna go there?" I asked, pointing at the club.

He didn't instantly answer. His thoughtful gaze was fixed on the door, and it remained there as he uttered an unsure 'I don't know…'.

"Oh, come on," I insisted. When I realized he was looking at the prices (twenty Euros getting in plus one drink — _twenty freaking Euros_!), I sighed and smiled at him. "Come on, Antonio. My treat."

Thanks to Greed's money management, I could afford it. His eyes finally stopped staring at the door to focus on me instead, as a small yet sincere smile appeared on his face.

"Thank you."

"Don't mention it."

~{x}~

It wasn't working.

Sure, at first, Antonio had ordered his drink and had started to dance and mingle with the rest of the people, but it didn't take long for him to sit in a stool next to the bar. He barely looked at the people dancing; he didn't look anywhere. His sad eyes were lost somewhere on the floor. And I… I was sat next to him, desperately trying to think what was wrong.

 _Maybe being here reminds him of Emma_ , I thought. The first time I'd seen them together, after all, had been at a very similar place. It was safe to assume they went often. _Fuck_. If that was the case, it'd be tough to find a way to distract him from his thoughts. When I had seen the club, I'd thought that dancing would be the perfect cure. He surely liked dancing — he was _Spanish_ , for fuck's sake! Maybe… Maybe it just was he didn't like the music being played—?

"I'm going to the toilet," he suddenly excused himself, leaving his empty glass on the bar as he made his way to the restroom.

Well, then. I had to try.

I pulled out my phone and sent a quick message to my brother:

 _Feli, what are Antonio's favourite songs?_

He replied almost immediately:

 _Listening to, singing or dancing?_

I typed ' _Dancing_ ' as I looked around, trying to find de DJ (a.k.a. the guy with a laptop and a random Spotify playlist). When I spotted him, I quickly walked towards him, as my phoned _ding_ ed every time Feli sent me the name of a song.

This had to work.

God, Karma, Mufasa or whichever mysterious force ruled the Universe — please, let it work.

…

Well, I had to pay the stupid DJ so he'd agree to play the list I gave him. If it didn't work now, I'd set the place on fire.

I was walking back to our seats when I saw Antonio was already there, not looking better than before. When I reached him, he gave me a weak smile.

"Hey," he said, "I was thinking maybe I should g—"

Just as he was finishing that hideous line, one of the songs started playing loudly. He quickly shut up, his eyes widening and his lips curling in a tiny smile.

"Nevermind. I'm going for a dance."

Phew! It _had_ worked! I smiled as I watched him mingle with the other dancers, soon reverting to his vibrant, joyous persona. Fuck, I loved the sight. He was so damn beautiful! I found myself smiling fondly every time I caught sight of him in the middle of the crowd.

A couple of songs had played when he suddenly moved slightly away from the others; close enough to join the dance instantly if he wanted, yet far enough for me to completely see him.

And for him to see me, apparently.

He smiled at me as he gestured with his finger. _Come here_. I choked on my drink. Was he really asking me to go _dance_? I shook my head; he laughed and came to my side.

"Come on, Lovino," he chuckled as he grabbed my hand and pulled, making me stand up from the stool. "Come dance; it's fun!"

"I don't want to!" I protested, though I was most definitely smiling as I tried to fight him. Damn, the bastard was strong… "I'm a terrible dancer," I lied.

"I'll teach you," he replied, confident. When he realized he was going to take me nowhere just by pulling (because I had hooked my free hand to the bar, basically), he changed tactics: suddenly, he was on the other side, his hands around my waist as he pushed me towards the dance floor.

… well, fuck. My heart jumped in my chest at the contact, and I almost gave in. Almost. But my pride and stubbornness fought back (I could think of a certain albino back home who'd be terribly proud of me) and I resisted a little longer.

That is until Antonio, still laughing, landed a warm kiss on my cheek.

I stopped fighting then. I couldn't — all my blood was _in my fucking face_. The moment I could focus on something that wasn't the ghost touch of Antonio's lips, I was already in the middle of the dance floor. I sighed, resigned, as the bastard danced around me, teasing, trying to get me to follow his moves.

I ended up doing so, but not precisely because I wanted to. All of a sudden, when a very recognizable song started to play, I felt Antonio's body behind me, his chest fully pressed against my back as his hands kind yet firmly grabbed my wrists. He started to move the both of us, making us dance to the stupid song, singing loudly as he did so.

I briefly wondered if he could feel how fast my heart was beating, and if he'd be sober enough to realize it wasn't precisely because of a certain Spanish hit of the 90's.

~{x}~

It was late when we left. The night was chilly, but I felt warm — whether it was because of the alcohol or because of Antonio's proximity, I didn't know. We both were a bit tipsy, so we stumbled and tripped with our own feet quite often.

Antonio was happily blabbering about anything and everything that crossed his mind, making a lot of gestures and overexaggerating everything, sometimes playfully pushing me. He actually made me laugh a few times. The idiot.

However, he turned a bit more serious when we reached the place where I had met him before. "Lovino," he said, kindly. "I saw what you did back there."

"Hmm? What did I do?" I asked, feigning innocence.

"You know what."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," I insisted.

"It's music related."

"You mean my terrible dancing to _Macarena_? Okay, I'll confess: can't stand the song."

He gasped, offended. "Don't you insult my culture like that!" He still laughed, though, and looked at me with a tender smile. "I saw you talking to the DJ just before all my favourite dance songs started to play. What an incredible coincidence, don't you think?"

Look at that, the bastard wasn't as oblivious as I thought.

"An incredible coincidence, indeed."

He cut me before I could add anything else:

"Thank you."

I blushed (as I had been doing for all the goddamn evening) and shrugged, not knowing what to say. Certainly not something clichéd like "you would have done the same for me". So I opted for shutting up.

He did the same for a while, until he broke the silence again:

"You know, Lovino," he said, thoughtful, "I had a very wrong image of you."

"As in…?" I asked, curious.

"As in… You're much nicer than I thought. I never imagined I could have such a great time with you."

Honest motherfucker. I blushed even more than before — my whole face _burnt_. In hindsight, I probably should have, I don't know, reconsidered my life choices, given than I didn't seem to cause a good first impression, but I really couldn't care less at the moment. Because, and that's what was important, Antonio had had _such a great time_. With ME!

I was still thinking what to reply to that when Antonio stopped walking. I was a bit confused at first, until I realized we were standing in front of my house. The magic was over.

"I guess this is it," Antonio smiled softly.

"Y-Yeah, so it looks like," I mumbled. "How are you going back home?" I asked a little after, suddenly remembering that he had to go all the way to Rome.

"Public transportation; there are still buses," he shrugged, as if he didn't care much. "I'll catch one."

"Okay, then." I bit my lip, unsure. "Have a safe trip."

I regretted it as soon as I said it. ' _Have a safe trip_ '? Rome was barely half-an-hour away — what could possibly happen? I felt so stupid. Antonio, however, didn't seem to think that, for he simply chuckled.

"Thanks for today, Lovino," he said. "You really helped me."

His smile widened a little, turning shy. SHY. I never thought I'd ever use that word to describe Antonio, of all people. Huh. Looked like I was discovering new sides of him (surprise, surprise, I loved them all).

Then, he leant forwards and placed a soft, chaste kiss on my cheek.

"Well then," he cleared his throat, awkwardly, "I— I'll be taking off, now. Um— good night."

"Night," I answered, so low I wasn't sure he'd heard me.

He turned around and started to walk away. I stared at him, longingly, lost in thought—

—until I heard a low ' _psst_!'. I flinched, startled, and when I looked around myself, I spotted Pride and Lust, hidden between some bushes, maniacally waving their hands around and mouthing something.

… fucking idiots. They didn't need to hide — they could just not show themselves to Antonio. I suppose they weren't happy if they didn't do something embarrassingly stupid at least once a week. Anyway, it took me a moment to understand their message: they were pointing rapidly at Antonio, mouthing ' _Don't let him go_!'.

I don't know why I obeyed them, honestly. I had more than enough valid reasons not to. But I suddenly found myself rushing after Antonio, yelping a (quite pathetic) "Wait!" as I reached to stop him.

He turned around, surprised, and looked quite astounded when his gaze landed on our clasped hands. Because yes, I had quite impulsively grabbed his hand when I had reached for him. Crap. Then he looked at me again, and I felt myself (yet another time) blushing madly.

"I, um…" I stuttered as I lowered my gaze, unable to meet his own. God, I was making such a fool of myself! Everything had been (almost) perfect up until this point, and now I had screwed up. He was going to laugh at me and push me away; then go back home and have another beautiful girlfriend in a matter of days. I panicked, still unable to say anything. "I— I—"

I couldn't utter anything else when I felt him move; only that he didn't move _away_ from me, as I had feared, but _closer_. Closer, closer, until our chests were practically touching. While one of his hands still held mine, the other reached up, shyly, until his fingertips slowly stroked my cheek. I almost had my breath taken away by that simple action. He whispered my name. I shivered out of the gazillions of emotions I was feeling.

His fingers reached my chin and softly made me raise it.

I caught a glimpse of his oh-so-green eyes before he tenderly pressed his lips against mine.

~{x}~

That _did_ leave me breathless.

In fact, it did more than just that.

My stomach twisted. My legs started to shake. My heart began to beat so damn fast I feared it would pop out of my chest. My brain straight up _melted_. It took me a moment to react, but soon I was kissing him back a bit clumsily. My free hand fisted the front of his shirt and he moved closer, pressing his body against mine; the hand that had been resting on my cheek moved to my hip, his arm wrapping around my waist and holding me tight, as if he didn't want to let me go.

I didn't want to let him go either.

Sadly, it had to end. (Not that we wanted to; it was just this old habit we had of, you know, breathing.) He pulled away, letting go of my waist —which prompted me to let go of his shirt—, and took a small step backwards, leaving some room for us to breathe. He didn't let go of my hand.

I tried to avoid his gaze, but I couldn't help it: my own eyes betrayed me and kept searching for his face. And when I saw it, I couldn't look away. His cheeks were coloured a lovely shade of red, which only made his green eyes stand out more; his parted lips were shiny and so fucking _inviting_ as they twisted into a shy smile.

There it was again, that timid side of him I never thought he could possibly have. I was glad he did, though. It was nice knowing that he could be just as shy as I was. I realized then, as I stared at his beautiful face, that I was falling even deeper.

"On second thought…" he whispered, breaking the silence. His voice sounded hoarse; when he gulped, I was mesmerized by the movements of his throat. "I don't really have to go back… I mean, there's nobody waiting fo—"

I didn't let him finish. My lips searched for his again, eagerly, and he responded with the same need. While the first kiss had been tender and sweet, this one was quickly growing desperate and needy. He finally let go of my hand, but only so he could wrap his arms around my body and press me against him; I wrapped my own around his neck as I deepened the kiss.

It ended as abruptly as it had started. I broke free from his embrace and took his hand in mine. "Come," I panted as I pulled him back to my house.

He followed without hesitation.

I barely managed to unlock the front door, too distracted by Antonio's warm lips on my neck. The moment we finally slipped inside, he banged the door and pressed me against it as he devoured my mouth, kissing me almost furiously.

"B-Bedroom," I managed to gasp between two of his passionate kisses, moaning when his hands slid under my shirt and caressed my stomach and chest.

We stumbled together towards my room, leaving a trail of discarded clothes behind us. I fell in the middle of the hallway as I struggled to take my shoes off; he laughed breathlessly and crawled on top of me, quickly pecking my lips before attacking my neck and chest, all this while helping me out of my damn shoes.

I was a panting, desperate mess when we finally reached the bedroom. Antonio seemed to be pretty impatient as well; he attempted to took full control, and I let him.

I let him touch, kiss, _bite_ me wherever he wanted. I let him roughly push me on the bed and gently crawl over me. I let him hold my hands over my head as he made goosebumps appear all over my body with his expert touch.

From then on, everything spiralled into a crazy haze.

He gasped my name; I screamed his.

And when he collapsed on top of me, panting and sweating yet satisfied, I let one of my hands stroke his back as another played with his soft hair, and my afterglow-numbed brain could only reach one conclusion: that was the single most perfect moment of my entire life.

~{x}~

My body was still tangled with Antonio's when I woke up the next morning. I blushed when the memories from last night came to my mind, but I couldn't prevent a genuine, happy smile from showing up on my face. Content, I dragged myself closer to Antonio, hugging his waist and resting my head on his chest.

Not too long after, he groaned in awakening and I looked at him as he slowly opened his eyes. He looked confused, at first, until his gaze landed on me. His eyes widened as he, too, remembered; but immediately after, his expression softened and he smiled at me.

"Hey," he muttered, still half-asleep.

"Hi," I shyly smiled back.

A hand lazily started to caress my back. He yawned and closed his eyes, sinking a little more in the mattress.

"What time is it?" he asked.

I fought the urge to reply "Summer time!" (oh, come on — as if you don't say "Baby don't hurt me" when someone asks "What is love?") and squirmed around until I could reach my phone.

"Half past ten."

"Too early," he mumbled. "Mind if I sleep some more?"

"Of course not. I'm getting up now, though. Are you going to want something for breakfast? Coffee?" I offered.

"Coffee is nice. I like coffee…" he sighed, already more asleep than awake.

Incredibly adorable motherfucker… I couldn't control myself: I leant forward and pecked his cheek. I could've done much more than that, but I didn't want to abuse of my luck, so (a bit reluctantly, I'll admit) I got out of bed, got dressed, and went to the kitchen. To my utter annoyance, there was someone waiting for me there.

"Well, Lovino, aren't you a _loud_ one," Lust greeted me. The bastard was leaning against the wall, arms crossed before the chest and a very perverted smirk on his face.

"Shut up," I growled.

"And lucky, too," he added, ignoring me. "That Antonio of yours… Hey, mind if—?"

"Stay the fuck away from him," I cut him, menacing.

He pouted (fucking _pouted_!), but let out a resigned sigh.

"Then don't ever ask me to spice things up between the two of you."

I stared at him, frowning. Had he—? Oh, he'd better fucking _not_! I'd kill him if he had. That long ride to the Vatican to ask for some Holy Water? I'd do it.

"Yesterday…" I said, slowly, "did you…?" I let it hanging, hoping he'd understand what I meant. And he did, oh yes, I _knew_ he did. But of course, being the asshole he was, he tilted his head and waited for me to finish my question. I glared at him. "Did you… manipulate us in any way? Like you said you could do with Emma?"

"Didn't," he answered, shaking his head. "Everything that happened was just the two of you."

I was relieved to hear that. I'd been suspicious since… since Antonio and I started making out, actually. It felt too good to be true, the way he was clinging to me, and I just assumed Lust was working his magic.

But he hadn't.

Antonio had been himself the whole time. He had wanted to do all that with me, _for real_. Just the thought made me feel like smiling as an idiot. (I didn't, though, because Lust was still in front of me and I'd die before giving him teasing material.)

"Are you really capable of influencing people like that?" I asked, curious. Not that I didn't believe him, but it did sound a bit surreal. Said the guy living with seven demons, yes. Shut up.

He narrowed his eyes and gave me a downright _nasty_ look, his smirk growing bigger.

"Oh, you have no idea what I'm capable of," he purred.

For my own sanity, I decided to end the conversation there and then. Instead, I started to make the coffee I had offered Antonio. I was halfway through when he entered the kitchen, still half asleep. The moment he did, my eyes were glued to him. He hadn't bothered to fully dress, instead wearing just his shirt (unbuttoned, might I add) and his boxers. It was quite the sight. I saw Lust in the corner of my eye, and given the way he was staring at Antonio, he clearly agreed with me.

It took me a moment to realize Antonio was talking to me.

"… huh? Sorry?"

"I asked if I can borrow your charger," he chuckled. "My phone ran out of battery at some point yesterday."

"Oh! Yes, sure! There's actually one over there— No, to your left— yes, that one," I instructed.

"Thanks," he smiled as he plugged his phone.

Blushing, I turned my back to him and pretended to be ordering some of my cooking books.

I was startled when I felt his arms wrapping around my waist and his chest pressing against my back. Soon, he rested his head on my shoulder.

"What'cha doing?" he asked.

"Um— nothing," I answered (which was the truth), feeling half of my blood going to my face and the other half to… another place.

"Hmm." He shifted and pressed his lips to my shoulder. "Last night was great," he said, the sound of his voice muffled against my shirt.

"It— It was," I agreed, feeling light-headed.

He moved again, this time to softly kiss my neck, effectively sending a shiver down my spine. Then he kissed it again. And a few more times after that.

"A-Antonio…" I moaned when he started to suck.

I was completely ignored. He didn't stop ravishing my neck — hell, he even slid a hand under my clothes! I wasn't going to complain because I'd be damned if it didn't feel absolutely glorious, but I didn't understand why, all of a sudden, he was behaving so lustfu— Oh.

 _OH_.

… motherfucker…

I twisted my head just enough so I could send a scorching glare towards Lust. He met my eyes for a brief moment, just enough so he could smirk at me, and then focused his entire attention on Antonio again.

And Antonio seemed to want _my_ attention, for he took his hand to my cheek and forced me to look at him. Not losing a single second, he left my neck and kissed my mouth instead. Well, fuck. And I had thought that last night kisses had been hungry… He was practically _devouring_ me.

The position I was in was a bit uncomfortable for kissing (I knew my neck would end up hurting if I kept it twisted like that a bit longer), so I squirmed and somehow managed to turn around without breaking the kiss. Antonio seemed to like it: he groaned and pressed himself closer to me, circling my waist with his strong arms. For a moment, I thought he was going to lift me up, put me on the worktop and go back to what we had been doing last night. However, just when I noticed I hadn't breathed in a while and I was starting to run low on oxygen, he reduced the intensity of the kiss until completely breaking it. He remained where he was, though, so close to me that I felt his hot breath on my lips.

"Probably not the best time for this, huh?" he chuckled breathlessly, pressing his forehead against mine.

"You think?" I replied, sarcastic but unable to hide a flustered smile when my eyes met his.

He laughed again and pecked me on the lips before pulling away.

"I'm going to get the rest of my clothes," he said. "And, um, I'll join you for breakfast then."

"Okay."

He gave me one last shy smile before leaving. Poor bastard was probably wondering what had gotten into him. I would have, too, if I didn't know already. The moment I knew Antonio wouldn't hear us, I turned and glared at Lust with all my might.

"Asshole."

"Come on, don't act as if you didn't enjoy it," he chuckled.

"So _that's_ what you're capable of, huh?" I grunted.

"And so much more, Lovino. So. Much. More."

That made me blush. Thankfully, the coffee pot started to whistle and saved me from carrying on with that conversation. Also, Antonio came back soon after (fully dressed, sadly) and Lust had no choice but to go silent again.

I handed Antonio a cup of coffee and he thanked me with a smile. I knew I shouldn't, but I started to think… that I could get used to that. To tranquil mornings, calmly having breakfast, Antonio and I, happy. Together.

… oh my god, I was such a love-struck moron…

We chatted a bit as we had breakfast, trying to avoid certain topics… like Emma or us. He told me about his childhood in Spain, the college grant that had taken him to Italy, and his decision to remain here. I told him every single anecdote in which Feli had done something silly or utterly stupid.

I couldn't tell how long it had been before Antonio stood up, going over to his phone, which was still charging. He hadn't checked it out since last evening, so I didn't complain or anything (though I may have wanted to).

Then I heard him gasp.

When I turned to look at him, I saw he was staring at his screen with eyes wide open, his face pale and shocked. I frowned, especially when I saw Lust was peeking over his shoulder and he had a similar reaction.

"What's the matter?" I asked after I realized Antonio was too struck to move (I could've sworn he even stopped breathing!).

He flinched when he heard me, effectively kicked out of his stupor, and gave me the fakest smile I'd ever seen. It didn't suit him.

"Nothing," he said. I saw right through his lie, but didn't let it show. "I, um, I'm going to head back home." He fidgeted as he spoke, clearly nervous. "My— My flatmate might be worried."

Lame excuse, if I ever heard one. I decided not to pry, though: he surely had his reasons not to tell me what was wrong… and Lust was going to tell me anyway.

So I walked him to the door, where he awkwardly said goodbye and rushed down the street. I frowned, worried, as I watched him leave. That was an odd behaviour. Thankfully, I had a very handy demon who knew what was going on.

"Speak," I ordered as I walked into the kitchen.

Lust made a face.

"What's the magic word?"

"Speak or I'll drive all the way to the Vatican to get Holy Water blessed by the Pope himself," I threatened.

He seemed to find that funny, if that badly-hidden smile was real. However, he went serious soon after, and gave me a worried look. Almost as if he knew I wasn't going to like what he was going to tell me.

And boy, was he right…

"He had like seventeen missed calls."

Huh.

"From—?" I asked, knowing I wasn't going to like the answer.

"… Emma."

Huh.

I crossed my arms and leant against the worktop as I mused over the info. Apparently, as I was with Antonio trying to cheer him up, eventually making it and sleeping with him, his more-than-recent ex-girlfriend had been calling him like a madwoman. What for, though? People only call their exes for two reasons: they're madly drunk or want to beg for a second chance.

I so hoped it was the first one.

~{x}~

It was almost lunch-time when my phone rang. I groaned as I dragged myself out of bed (I was _exhausted_ , alright?), ready to murder whoever was on the other end. I decided not to, though, when I saw my brother's name on the screen. He was a little pain in the ass, but he was still my baby brother.

"What?" I snapped as I picked up.

" _Hello, Lovi!_ " Feli's cheerful voice reached me. " _How are you?_ "

"Fine until you called."

" _Mean_."

"Always. What do you want?"

" _Yes! Um… I was wondering if maybe you've seen Antonio recently—?_ "

Okay, I wasn't expecting that. For a moment I considered lying; I was _my_ private life, after all. Then again, maybe there was an important reason why he asked. Maybe, I don't know, Antonio had been abducted by the mafia and Feli was tracking down his last movements to fight off an entire criminal organization and get his friend back. You never know.

"Why?" I asked.

" _Well, you see, he and Emma broke up yesterday…_ " he started to explain, sounding a bit uncertain. " _And I know Antonio works close to where you live, and that's where he was yesterday afternoon, and well, he was feeling quite low, and_ —"

"Just make your point already," I growled, cutting him.

" _Okay, okay! The thing is that he's come back home this morning, and now he's having a big, big argument with Emma…_ "

"I-I don't see how I'm involved in all of this," I said, hoping he hadn't noticed my slight stutter.

" _Well, aren't you the whore Emma is screaming about?_ "

"Excuse me?" I yelled, indignant.

" _She's yelling at Antonio. Like, a lot. Something about breaking up with her and not waiting even a day before fucking a cheap whore_."

"…"

" _So? Is she talking about you?_ "

"I— may have slept with Antonio," I quietly admitted.

" _Knew it! How was it?_ "

"I'm not going to tell you that!"

" _Oh, alright, Mr. Grumpy_." I could hear him roll his eyes. " _Anyway_ —"

"How's Antonio?" I impulsively interrupted him again.

" _Antonio? To be honest, he doesn't look very good._ "

"Okay. Thanks, Feli. Bye."

Before he could reply anything, I hung up and left my phone on the nightstand before dropping myself on the bed and burying my face on my hands.

Absolutely fantastic.

I had done precisely what I had wanted to avoid after Lust's offer a while back. True, I hadn't been the cause of his breakup, but I had hurt him nonetheless. Or wasn't he suffering right now because of me? Because of me, any chance he may have had of going back with Emma had vanished.

He wanted to, I knew he did. He had told me while we strolled around the park. It had taken him a while, but he ended up admitting that, despite having realized he didn't really love her, he did _like_ her — liked being with her, spending time with her, making her laugh. Liked her so much he would gladly give themselves a second chance.

Someone sat by my side and wrapped an arm around my shoulders, pulling me against his own.

"Sssh, it's alright," I heard Lust's soothing voice.

Only then I realized I was crying.

"N-No, it's not," I replied in between hiccups. And then I told him everything, from my chat with Antonio the previous day to my brother's call. "It's _so_ not okay."

He sighed and waited until I had calmed down to speak.

"Lovino, he never did anything he didn't want to," he said, soft yet stern at the same time. "You have nothing to blame yourself for."

"Still…"

"I barely know him, but if he's the way I think he is, he'll blame himself, not you."

That made me feel a bit better.

I still felt like crap, though.

It didn't help that, two days later, I stumbled upon Antonio while I was grocery shopping. I froze on the spot when I saw him. It took him a moment to see me, but when he did, he barely looked at me for more than two seconds before turning on his heels and leaving.

I rushed back home after that, not caring that I hadn't bought everything I needed, and cried on Lust's shoulder for hours.

~{x}~

"Lovino, please calm down," Pride groaned.

I didn't listen to him and I kept pacing around the living room, angrily waving my hands and kicking furniture as I vented, Pride and Lust watching me from the couch. I was so— _angry_. And I didn't even know why! I think I was fed up with sorrow, and my subconscious decided to cope with life with anger.

"I don't want to," I snarled before going back to my rant.

"Where's Wrath when you need him?" Lust muttered, looking around himself with an annoyed expression. "Come on, Lovino, calm down!" he added, this time talking to me. "You're not going to solve anything like this."

"Maybe not, but I do feel better," I replied, stubborn as I was.

"It's so unawesome," Pride objected. "You should try other things. Like yoga."

Well, wasn't he _helpful_. I gave him the middle finger and he gasped, offended.

"I agree with him," Lust said. "You shouldn't let anger get the best of you. Why don't you go out?"

"Go out?" I snorted. "Yeah, sure. Because the risk of meeting Antonio is so _low_!" I glared at him. "I can't do like you guys, hide behind a fake name and—"

"It's not fake," Lust cut me off. I would've kept talking, but there was something in his voice that stopped me from doing so. He sounded mad. He looked _hurt_. I'd never seen that kind of expression on his face before.

"W-What?"

"It's not fake," he repeated, eerily calm. "Francis—that's my name. Or it was… back when I was still human."

The last bit was almost a whisper, but I caught it nonetheless. I looked at him with eyes wide open, my anger completely washed away as deep curiosity took over.

"Back when _what_?"

His gaze, which had gotten lost on the wall behind me, suddenly snapped and focused on my eyes. It sent shivers down my spine. It was just so… so _sad_.

"When we were human," Pride answered instead of him.

"All seven of you?" I asked, awestruck, as I took a few steps back and sat heavily on a chair.

"It was a long time ago," Lust sighed. "We had come to this house on vacation, just for a fortnight. Then, one night there was a fire. None of us made it out." He made a face as he remembered. "We don't know how or why, but a few days later we woke up… like this."

That explained a lot of things. Like why they were bound to the house, or why Wrath had once mentioned Pride being German. I stared alternately from Lust to Pride and from Pride to Lust, completely at loss of words.

"So you all have, like, human names?" I finally managed to ask. Fuck, my throat was dry!

"I'm Francis, and he's Gilbert," Lust answered.

And then they talked to me about them before they got their demon status.

Lust (Francis) was kind of the centre of the group. His second cousin was Sloth (Herakles), his best friend was Pride (Gilbert), and his archenemy-but-very-close-friend-nonetheless was Wrath (Arthur). Greed (Vincent) was Pride's cousin; and Envy (Peter) and Gluttony (Alfred) were Wrath's little brother and cousin, respectively.

I listened in awe as they told me, all my thoughts about Antonio completely forgotten.

"Francis and I were best friends," Pride said, absently tugging at a thread of his shirt. Damn, I had never seen him so low! "But it— it wasn't just us." He looked for a moment at Lust, as if asking for permission to go on. "There was a third one. We were inseparable, the three of us. We were so sad when he couldn't make it to our trip, although we're glad he didn't end up like us."

I swallowed. _Why are you telling me this_ , I wanted to ask, but no words would leave my lips. Thankfully, Lust answered anyway:

"He was a lot like Antonio," he smiled, sadly. "The other day, when we left you alone… We apologized for that, but we never gave you our reasons. Well, there you have it."

"Antonio— He reminded you of your friend?"

"We wanted to taste it again," Pride nodded. "The awesomeness of the Bad Touch Trio."

I couldn't help it — I sorted at the name. "I understand," I muttered, though. "I forgive you for, um, leaving me alone to despair."

Pride laughed softly. Then he seemed to realized it wasn't his usual, obnoxious laugh and paled even paler than he already was.

"Oh no," he whispered, terrified. "I'm going soft. No, no, no, this can't be!" He jumped to his feet. "I'm going to punch someone in the face. Probably Vin— _Greed_. Probably Greed."

Just like that, he stomped out of the living room. I followed him with questioning eyes, though not really surprised by his attitude. Lust cleared his throat, catching back my attention, and pointed at the now free spot on the couch by his side. I didn't hesitate and rushed to his side. Now that I was getting answers, I sure as heck wasn't going to let it pass.

"Are you going to go all sentimental on me?" I tried to joke.

"Yes," he replied, completely serious.

"… oh."

He hesitated for a moment before talking again.

"Do you remember when you asked me if I understood love?"

I nodded. His reply still made me think, from time to time.

"I never did," he confessed. "We lived a long time ago. And in those times, there were certain things that were not only unaccepted, but straight illegal."

I smiled, understanding.

"You're one of us, huh?"

"Homosexual? Yes." He scratched his stubble, taking a moment to (I suppose) order his thoughts. "And I never understood why I felt like that when I looked at a certain someone, because it fit all I had read about love but it couldn't be, because since when two men can love each other?" He sighed. "I confessed my feelings to my two best friends, and they advised I kept it secret because… well, those were different times. So I never told him. I think he was aware of it, or at least suspected, but he never let it show. Then the… _incident_ happened, and as I lived through the years, I started to see it was possible, and common, and I immensely regretted not having told him."

"Why don't you now?"

He looked at me, surprised. I felt slightly offended — I'm not stupid!

"Do you know who he is?"

"Wrath, right?" When he nodded and asked how I'd known, I shrugged and said: "You always treat him differently than the others. More lovingly. Despite all the quarrels."

"I didn't know it was that obvious," he chuckled, somewhat sadly. "To answer your question… I wouldn't know what to do if he rejected me. We're two quasi-immortal beings forced to live together until the end of our days. I wouldn't stand it."

"And it's better to carry on with the doubt?"

He fell silent, lost in thought. So did I.

Look at me, giving love advice to a freaking demon. Telling him to do something I didn't have the guts to do. Telling him…

Screw this.

I startled Lust when I abruptly stood up.

"Wha—? Lovino? Where are you going?" he called, rushing after me.

"Out," was my simple reply.

"I can see that! But why—?"

I never heard the rest of his question. I had to do this quickly, or else I'd think twice about it and never get to do it. And I had to. I really had.

I walked fast. I didn't know exactly where my destination was, but I knew for sure that I'd find it, one way or another. Thankfully, luck seemed to be on my side.

"Hey, asshole!" I yelled.

Sadik, Antonio's (hated) co-worker, stopped walking and looked at me, both surprised an annoyed.

"Ah, you're the guy that was with Antonio the other day," he said when he recognized me. "What do you want?"

"Take me to your nursery," I ordered.

He raised an eyebrow.

"I just got out from work. I'm coming back from there. You want me to go all the way back?"

" _Please_."

He sighed.

"And then people say I'm not a nice guy…"

He started to walk on the opposite direction, motioning for me to follow. I did.

We didn't talk during the walk. He asked me a couple of things, but I barely replied something other than "yes" or "no". I was too busy mentally rehearsing what I was going to say, hoping I wouldn't screw up. In the end, he gave up and remained silent until we reached the nursery.

It was a nice little building, with the walls painted with rainbows and lovable cartoon characters, and there was a big playground, where at least fifteen toddlers were running around laughing and playing. It was so welcoming; I could totally understand why Antonio loved working there.

"Here we are," Sadik said, pulling me out of my thoughts. "Do you want me to go get Antonio?"

"Uh— yes, please."

He disappeared inside the building. I heard him call Antonio, and I heard Antonio replying something like "What the fuck are you doing here?"; except he didn't use "fuck" because there were kids. But I'm certain he thought it.

Soon after, Sadik came out, followed by an irritated Antonio. When he saw me waiting at the door, however, his expression morphed from irritation to surprise to confusion to guilt in barely two seconds.

"Well, my job here is done," Sadik smirked. "And that's my weekly good action!"

Maybe he said something else; maybe he left that instant; maybe he stood there a little longer. I didn't know — I was completely ignoring him. All I cared about was Antonio, who was standing in front of me.

"Lovino… What are—?"

"Antonio," I interrupted. I didn't mean to seem rude, but I needed to let it all out. "First of all, I'm sorry I blew up all your chances of getting back with Emma. Feli told me what happened, and I'm very, very sorry." I paused to take a deep breath, but went on before he could say something. "Secondly, I just wanted to say that I— Fuck… That afternoon, you said you thought I hated you. The truth is quite… quite the opposite." I gulped. I was going to do it. There it went. "I've had a crush on you since I first met you, and since then it evolved into, uh, well… love." I wasn't looking at him (I couldn't, God, my face would explode if I did that!), so I didn't see his reaction, but I did hear him gasp. "I didn't realize it myself until very recently, you know, but I am so very in love with you and— and I'm _yours_. Completely. I just— thought you should know."

I didn't look at his face. I didn't even let him speak. The moment I finished my awkward yet so sincere confession, I turned and ran away.

~{x}~

I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel better after having let all my feelings out. Wrath had once told me that I shouldn't let anger bottle-up inside me, but thinking about it, I concluded that that applied to basically every single feel.

So… yeah. I didn't feel _spectacular_ , but I wasn't feeling down either. It helped that, when I came back from my (one-sided) talk with Antonio, I saw Lust and Wrath hugging tightly in the kitchen, the former smiling brightly with happy tears rolling down his cheeks. At least they got be happy. Honestly, they deserved it.

More or less a week after the Desperate Confession™, my brother called me out of the blue.

" _Hello, Lovi! How are you?_ "

"Better than I expected."

" _Antonio told me about that outburst of yours_ …"

"Did he now?"

" _He was quite confused_."

"He's a stupid bastard."

" _That's not what someone who's completely his would say_ ," he chuckled.

"God, just how many details did he give you…" I groaned, embarrassed.

" _Enough_ ," the little shit answered, and I could hear the smile in his voice. " _Anyway, I was calling you because in a couple of days it's Nonno's birthday, and I know he's no longer with us, but I think it'd be nice if you and I had dinner together to celebrate, because that's what he'd want._ "

Nonno's birthday, yes. Truth is, we hadn't celebrated our grandpa's birthday since he had passed away a few years ago. And my dumb little brother was right: the old man would want us to honour his memory by getting pissed and flirting with pretty ladies. That's what he excelled at, after all.

" _Lovi? You still there?_ "

"Huh? Yes, yes, I'm still here."

" _So? Do you like the idea?_ "

"Yeah. I like it a lot."

" _Yay! Okay, then I'll pick you up on Friday at around eight thirty. Dress nicely!_ "

And he hung up.

I stared at my phone for a moment, a bit taken aback by Feli's attitude. Still, I was glad he was getting over Nonno. Despite myself, I smiled gently, already impatient for Friday.

As it usually happens, Friday took its sweet time to finally come; and when it was finally there, the clock didn't seem to move at all dammit why wasn't already eight thirty? And when it finally was eight thirty… Feli wasn't there.

I paced nervously around the living room, earning amused glances from a stupid bunch of stupid demons.

"If you frown that much, you'll have lots of wrinkles," Lust chuckled.

"Like I give a fuck."

"Control your anger, Lovino," Wrath warned, jokingly.

"Yes, because anger is the path to the Dark Side," I rolled my eyes. They didn't get the reference and I rolled them again.

After a few minutes of teasing comments and sarcastic replies, the doorbell finally rang. I rushed to the door and opened it a tad too violently.

"It was about time, you dumba—!"

I froze mid-sentence.

"Hello!" Antonio smiled.

…

What…

I mean…

Why…

He…

I opened and closed my mouth, unable to utter a single word. My somehow still functioning brain tried to process what was going on: not only Feli was nowhere to be seen, but also Antonio was wearing a nice suit (tight trousers — kill me now) and looked so radiant and bright and— and— _What the actual fuck_?!

"I know you weren't expecting me," he said when I failed to speak. "I'm sorry for this little trick; I just, um, wasn't sure if I'd manage to ask you out myself."

"A-Ask me out?"

"Yes! I have a reservation at a nice restaurant… for us… if you want to come," he said, shyly offering me his hand.

Okay. I couldn't believe I was awake. I knew I was, because my dreams always got much weirder than this, but I couldn't believe it. Because how could that be happening? For real? I took a deep breath.

 _Lovino Vargas, this is probably the most important moment in your entire life— don't screw up!_

"B-But why?"

 _Excellent job, you fucking moron._

A faint blush covered Antonio's cheeks and his smile became softer, tender. More loving.

"You said you were mine," he answered, honest. "I thought I might as well give you the chance to make me yours."

The bastard was better with words than I'd ever aspire to be. I stuttered a series of "um", "eh", "oh" and variations. Then I asked him if he'd give me five seconds.

"What for?"

"Screaming."

He laughed that laugh of his that was so clear and cheerful and goddamn _beautiful_.

"Oh, but we'll get to that later," he replied, cheekily winking at me.

… magnificent bastard…

I dropped my face on my hands, in a useless attempt at hiding my blushing cheeks.

And then, very slowly, I reached for his hand.

The rest, as they say, is history.

~{x}~

"Hey, guys. After dating for almost a year… Antonio and I are moving in together."

My seven friends (because at that point that's what they were) started to cheer and congratulate me. Only Lust noticed that I wasn't as happy as one would expect.

"What's wrong?"

"… we're moving to Sicily."

Dead silence.

Sad eyes.

Heartfelt farewells.

I made seven demons cry that day. I think I deserve a fucking prize for that.

~{x}~{§}~{x}~

I don't know what wakes me up. Antonio's snoring behind me, one of his arms wrapped around my waist. I lazily reach for his hand, smiling when our rings graze each other. Who would have thought, eh? Not me, that's for sure. I was so shocked when he asked me that I answered something stupid involving pizza. Then he laughed at me, and then I said yes.

Then we moved to Spain.

And then—

Ah. That's what's woken me up. I hear now the quiet steps that come closer to our bed, and soon Isabel's round face is right before my eyes.

"Dad," she whispers, her lower lip trembling. "I had a nightmare."

Antonio really is SuperDad. I always knew he would. It's so endearing watching him read bed-time stories to Isabel; the way he voices all the characters and mimics their expressions. His devastated face when he realizes there's only one chocolate mousse left is always hilarious, and the kind smile he always wears as he hands it to Isabel never fails to make my heart flutter.

Yes, he's definitely SuperDad.

And you know what?

I'm not half bad, either.

"A nightmare?" I repeat as I crawl next to her and pick her up. This isn't an uncommon scene, and I always know how to act. I knew from the very first time. "Were there monsters?" I ask, placing her between Antonio and myself.

Antonio groans something like "What's the matter" and opens a sleepy eye.

"I had a nightmare," Isabel repeats to him. "And there were lots of monsters," she answers my question, hiding under the covers.

"Don't worry, sweetheart," I say, sandwiching her between her Papa and me. "You're more than safe now." Pause for a yawn. "No fucking monster is going to eat you tonight."

"Language," Antonio growls, and Isabel giggles.

Oh. Language. Yeah, that's my main problem when it comes to parenting. I'm working on it! I mumble a quiet apology, and soon Antonio's arm is around me again, going over Isabel as well.

Fuck, I'm happy.

Many years ago, I wouldn't have dared to dream of a moment like this.

Yet here we are.

"Lovi…" Antonio whispers, not wanting to wake up an already deep asleep Isabel (she loves sleeping like the proper offspring of a Spanish-Italian marriage should). "I love you."

Despite all these years, I still blush.

"… me too."

"And—" he yawns, "you're perfect."

"Of course," I smirk. "I'm number one."

 **FIN**


End file.
